Gerhard Bassenge

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Gerhard Bassenge was a general in the

Bassenge was Chief of Staff of

Gerhard Bassenge was born in Ettlingen, the Grand Duchy of Baden in the German Empire on 18 November 1897.^[1]

Bassenge began his military career in the early days of World War I, on 4 October 1914, just shy of his 17th birthday. He became an

He transferred to the Luftstreitkräfte and began pilot training on 1 April 1916. After training, he was assigned to Kampfstaffel 39. After serving with Kampfstaffel 39 for some months, Bassenge was remanded for further training.^[3]

On 17 January 1917 he began training as a fighter pilot. He was successful and was posted to a fighter squadron, Jagdstaffel 5. On 13 April, he put in his first claim for an aerial victory, over a British pusher fighter; the claim went unconfirmed because he only forced it to land. On 2 May, he was transferred to another fighter unit, the famed Jagdstaffel 2. He was confirmed as a leutnant on 28 June 1917; his commission granted him over two years seniority in rank, back to 18 June 1915.^[3] Photos taken of him at about this time show a slender man with an erect carriage standing next to or sitting on his Albatros D.III biplane fighter.^[4] This Albatros, as was the German custom, had been embellished beyond its factory finish of umber and two tones of green. As had all the Jasta 2 aircraft, its tail had been painted white. Its nose, cowling, struts, and wheel covers were painted gray. Bassenge's personal markings were superimposed–a black and white strip that ran back down the sides of the plane to where a wide black band edged in white encircled the fuselage.^[5]

Bassenge used this plane to score his first aerial victory^[6] on 20 October 1917. At 1220 hours, he shot down Sopwith Camel serial number B2370 from No. 70 Squadron RFC south of Saint Quentin, France. On 6 November, it was followed by Sopwith Camel s/n B2441 from No. 65 Squadron RFC, destroyed over Staden, Belgium. However, Bassenge was severely wounded. The wound would sideline him until July 1918.^[3]

Bassenge used a new

On 1 August 1940, Bassenge was transferred to be Chief of Staff of Luftflotte 5 in Oslo, Norway under Generaloberst Hans-Jürgen Stumpff. On 15 August, Luftflotte 5 became involved in history's first battle waged solely between opposing air forces, the Battle of Britain.^[8] However, before that battle ended, Bassenge had once again been transferred; on 5 October 1940, he was appointed Chief of Staff of a Luftwaffe mission to Romania.^[3]

His next assignment took him to his final theater of service,

Bassenge was captured 9 May 1943 at Metline, North Africa by the British. He was hastily transported to Britain, arriving at Camp 11, Trent Park, on 16 May 1943. He was logged into this luxurious camp for high-ranking prisoners as POW 18809. His intake papers note him as having brown hair and blue eyes, being 5' 7 1/2" tall, and weighing 162 lbs. His next of kin was listed as Lotte Bassenge.^[8] Camp 11 was "bugged" by British military intelligence, and on 10 July 1943, a wiretap caught Bassenge being informed of war crimes by a horrified Generalleutnant Georg Neuffer.^[10] It is not known if Bassenge was previously unaware of the atrocities, or if the conversation caught on the wiretap influenced him, but while in captivity, Bassenge became an advocate of Wilhelm Ritter von Thoma's views. General der Panzertruppe von Thoma, who was held prisoner along with Bassenge, believed that Hitler had gone insane and that the Nazi war effort was doomed. As the majority of German officers held prisoner were fervent Nazis, the views of Bassenge and Thoma caused considerable dissension with the Hitlerites.^[11] This schism among the German officers may have been responsible for Bassenge's transfer to Camp 300; he would be returned from there to Camp 11 on 23 July 1946. On 1 October 1947, he was transferred to Camp 186; he was repatriated the next day.^[12] Bassenge died 13 March 1977 at Lübeck, Germany.

Awards

1. 1914 Iron Cross First Class with 1939 Bar^{[citation needed]}
2. Romanian Order of Michael the Brave, Third Class on 19 September 1941 (per Royal Decree No. 2628)^[8]
3. General Staff of the Deutsche Luftwaffenmission Rumänien (German Air Force Mission Romania)^[13]

• Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918.
  ISBN 978-0-948817-73-1
  .
• Albatros Aces of World War I Part 2, Greg Vanwyngarden. Osprey Publishing, 2007.
  ISBN 978-1-84603-179-3
  .
• Fokker D.VII Aces of World War I, Norman Franks. Osprey Publishing, 2003.
  ISBN 978-1-84176-533-4
  .
• German Order of Battle, Volume Two: 291st–999th Infantry Divisions, Named Divisions, and Special Divisions in WWII, Samuel W. Mitcham, Stackpole Books, 2007.
• Jagdstaffel 2 Boelcke: Von Richthofen's Mentor, Greg Vanwyngarden. Osprey Publishing, 2007.
  ISBN 978-0-8117-3437-0
• Moral Combat: Good and Evil in World War II,
  ISBN 978-0-06-058097-1
  .
• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall.
  ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8
  .